Nobody But Yourself
by Riley Baragon
Summary: A new ninja comes to Konoha and joins with our favorite Genin. How does this change the story? Lyra's life as a ninja. Humor would be third genre. Weird mix, ne?
1. The beginning

Nobody but yourself

A bloodied figure stumbles down a dirt path. She has no idea where she is or where she's going, she just needs to get away. Two miles more; she collapses onto the hard ground. A small smile appears on her face as she whispers, "Its over."

Kakashi Hatake of the Village hidden in the Leaf is coming back from training. He jumps with an agile grace from tree to tree. He spots a figure lying on the road ahead of him. _About ten meters ahead_ he estimates. Jumping from the tree he lands two feet from the figure. Quickly realizing that it was an injured young woman, he scoops her up in his arms and dashes off towards Konoha. His trip is short, as he makes it there in a mere five minutes. The guards at the gate let him in upon confirmation he was who he said he was. Quickly making his way to the hospital he bursts through the door. A nurse immediately rushes up to him and asks him to carry the girl to the emergency room. The healers start their work while the nurse asks him some questions.

"What happened?" was obviously the first thing she asked.

"I found her on my way back from training." He answers simply.

"So you have no clue who she is" the nurse states in an almost questioning way.

"She's wearing a Denkou Village headband."

"Weren't they attacked a week ago? I heard there were no survivors" She said, more to herself then anyone else. "Someone should inform the Hokage" she continues, never taking her gaze away from Kakashi.

He takes out his book and flips to the correct page before disappearing in a puff of smoke. "Lord Hokage" he greets politely upon entering the man's office.

"Yes Hatake-san?" the elderly man questions.

"A young woman was found outside the village gate wearing a Lightning Village headband. She is currently in the hospital with serious injuries." He responds never taking his eyes off of his book.

"Very well" the man sighs. "I hope she is going to be alright. Hatake-san, I want you stay with her until I can come and watch over her."

"But Hokage-sama I…"

"I should be able to come in about ten minutes, I'm sure if you can take the time to carry her here you can spend ten more minutes watching over her." He interrupts with a twinkle in his eye.

Nodding, Kakashi disappears from the office and reappears at the hospital. "He's going to be here in ten minutes." He tells the nurse he had previously spoken to.

"She's in room 22, her wounds have been bandaged so she should have a full recovery. She lost a lot of blood, and she's still unconscious but she should be fine after some rest."

Nodding, Kakashi heads off to her room. Sitting beside her bed, he continues to read his book. About five minutes later, he's giggling gaily until he hears a soft moan from the bed. He glances up from his book to see the girl groggily open her eyes.

She squeezes her hands into fists, glancing quickly around the room she realizes she must be in a hospital of some sort. "So close" she whispers to no one in particular. Sitting up she quickly grabs her stomach wincing in pain.

"You shouldn't move around so much. You'll reopen your wounds." the man beside her says.

She quickly shies away from the mysterious, masked man. Scooting so far away from him she accidentally falls off of the bed. "Who are you?" she asks through her obvious pain.

"I am Hatake Kakashi of Konoha, and you are?"

"Where am I?" she asks, completely ignoring his question.

"Konoha", he responds, returning his attention to his book.

After a couple seconds of her sitting on the ground, the young woman quickly picks herself up and gets back in the bed, albeit a few groans of pain. Pulling the blankets back over her, she glances up when, "Hokage-sama" a woman can be heard saying outside of the room. An elderly man walks into the room.

"So you're awake" he says kindly.

She wasn't sure what to say so she continued staring at him idly, pulling the blankets up to her chin.

He could see the obvious fear in her eyes but it was mixed with despair, and an overwhelming feeling of submission. Her eyes seemed to show that she was ready to give up. The need to comfort her washed over him, yet he knew there was little he could do when she didn't trust him. He moved closer to her bed. She pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly, she was still sitting up but she was pressed tightly against the headboard. "Are you feeling any better?"

She knew she had to respond this time, for some reason she couldn't form a single word so she simply nodded.

"Good" he responded with a smile. "What's your name?"

"Yuuki Lyra." She responds quietly. "Hokage-sama" she quickly adds to the end once she remembers who, exactly, she is talking to.

"What happened?" he asks, looking directly into her eyes.

She couldn't hold his gaze for long as she stared at her hands, suddenly very interested in them. "They're all gone" she whispers almost too quiet to be heard.

He places his hand gently on her shoulder trying to reassure her but she violently flinches away from his touch. He retracts his hand immediately. She glances up at his face and when he motions for her to continue she takes a deep breath and says, "I was sleeping and I heard a scream so I went downstairs. My mom was on the floor, covered in blood." She shudders from the memory. "I ran over to my brother's room and he had a kunai stuck in his chest. He was still alive." She closed her eyes and took another breath in, "I picked him up and I knew he was dying. He was in so much pain, he was terrified. He died a couple seconds later and I… I killed the men in our house. I couldn't control it. They killed my 5 year old brother for no reason. He never did anything to anyone. They were the ones who injured me. After that, I went outside and the houses around mine were on fire and the village was being destroyed. I didn't know what to do, I ran back in my house, grabbed my backpack and left. I didn't know where I was going so I just ran until I couldn't go any further." She glances up into his eyes waiting to see revulsion or hatred, yet all she sees is… compassion? Care? Worry?

Her eyes show something completely different. They hold a strong self-hatred, fear, and confusion. The Hokage immediately tries to console her. "It wasn't your fault. You did the right thing"

_Yeah it was the right thing to run away like a coward when I could have helped fight for my village. That makes sense. _She thinks, simply nodding instead of voicing her real opinion.

"How old are you?" he asks.

"I'm 12"

"So you are a Genin" he states.

"I was, Hokage-sama"

"You don't have to call me Hokage–sama, my name is Sarutobi but I'm quite fond of being called Ojii-chan." He said smiling.

"Ojii-chan, really?" she asks surprised.

He nods at her kindly before asking, "Would you like to become a ninja for our village?"

"Hai Hokage-sa… I mean Ojii-chan" she said excitedly with a small smile on her face.

"Great! You just have to take the exam. I'm sure Iruka wouldn't mind testing one more student."

She was about to get out of bed to take the exam immediately but the Hokage placed his hand on her shoulder again, forcing her to stay on the bed. "You still need rest. You need at least three days of bed rest until I'll even consider allowing you to take the exam."

"Hai Hokage-sama." She sighed.

After a couple minutes of the two strange ninjas conversing with each other at her bedside, she got tired of listening to them and started daydreaming, a favorite pastime of hers.

"Goodbye Lyra-chan" the Hokage said kindly.

"Oh, goodbye ojii-chan!" She responded enthusiastically.

Kakashi simply poofs away.

The three days pass quickly and she has only snuck out of the hospital twice. She wasn't caught either time and didn't run into anyone from the village. Now, she's lying in bed, fidgeting from not being able to move around freely the entire day. She didn't want to be caught on the day she was supposed to be getting out. The nurse comes in and she immediately asks if she can leave yet. After a couple minutes of the nurse checking to make sure the wounds were healed sufficiently for basic movement, she was allowed to leave. Humming a song foreign to any passerby's ears, she walks around the village trying to find the Hokage's office.

After thirty minutes of walking around aimlessly, she decides to ask directions and walks into Ichiraku's ramen stand. She immediately notices a blonde sitting at the counter, slurping down ramen very quickly. Looking behind the counter she sees a man making ramen.

"Excuse me sir, do you know the way to the Hokage's office?" she asks, after a polite bow.

"Oh, actually it's pretty close to here. You just have to turn right at… another left two blocks later and there you are." Is all she hears, completely confused by the lengthy explanation. He could see spirals in her eyes indicating her confusion.

"Arigatou gozaimasu." She said, bowing while she spoke.

"You still have no clue where it is, do you?" he asks kindly, with a smile on his face.

"Not really sir" she sighs dejectedly.

"I'm sure Naruto wouldn't mind showing you the way" he said, glancing over at the blonde she noticed upon entry to the establishment.

"Huh?" Naruto asks with ramen hanging out of his mouth.

"You wouldn't mind showing… uh… what's your name?" he asks looking at her.

"I'm Yuuki Lyra" she said with a smile.

"You wouldn't mind showing Yuuki-chan to the Hokage's office would you?"

"No problem" he said, quickly grabbing her wrist and dragging her down the block.

He let go of her wrist after they were far away from the ramen stand.

"What was that about?" she asked him, tilting her head to the side in a confused manner.

_She's really cute_. "Oh, uh… I didn't want to pay for all the ramen." He chuckled nervously, blushing.

"Ah, that explains it." She responded smiling. "So, which way to the Hokage's office?"

"Right over there" he said pointing to the tall building behind her.

"Arigatou gozaimashita" she responded, before jogging into the building.

She was led to the Hokage after about five minutes of waiting. He sent her to the ninja academy to talk to someone named Iruka-sensei so she could take the exam. Heading out of the building she quickly realized her mistake, _I forgot to ask where the school is… great._

She decided to ask directions immediately this time, instead of walking around like a baka again. Spotting a friendly looking group of people, she decides to walk over and ask for help.

"Excuse me sir, could you point me in the direction of the ninja academy?" she asks politely.

"The flame of youth burns brightly in you! I am Gai-sensei, and these are my youthful students. Go ahead introduce yourselves." He says excitedly.

"I am Rock Lee, the beautiful green beast of Konoha!" The one dressed exactly like Gai responds eagerly.

"I'm Ten-ten" the only girl in the group responds, waving slightly.

After a moment of silence Lee butts in with, "and this is Hyuuga Neji" pointing at him.

"Uh… nice to meet you, I'm Yuuki Lyra." She says bowing slightly.

"What a beautiful name for a beautiful flower like yourself." Lee says.

"Uh… thanks" she says blushing slightly, staring at her feet.

"Why are you headed to the ninja academy anyway Lyra-chan?" Gai-sensei asks.

"Uh… I have to take the Genin exam." Seeing the confused looks on everybody's faces she continues with, "I'm from a different village and I just came here a few days ago. Ojii-chan said I could take it today."

"Your grandpa lives here?"

"Gomen nasai, I meant Hokage-sama." She responded quietly.

"Ah, well then, you're going to want to go straight ahead. It's at the end of this road; see that big building up there?" Gai-sensei asks.

"Hai"

"That's the one." He responds smiling.

"Arigatou gozaimasu" she responds, turning around and heading off for the building.

"Nice to meet you Lyra-chan!" Lee shouts after her.

"Nice to meet you too Lee-kun." She responds. Quickly followed by, "It was nice to meet you as well Ten-ten-chan, Neji-san, and Gai-sama." Bowing quickly at the end she takes her leave.

Arriving at the academy, she searches for Iruka-sensei. It wasn't too difficult to find him; he was in a class training the next group of Genin. The door was open so she peeked her head in, causing the door to open wider and the whole class's attention to be drawn to her.

"Gomen nasai" she apologizes immediately. "I was told to come here now to take my Genin exam but if you're busy I'll just…"

"So you're Lyra-chan huh? Hokage-sama told me to be expecting you. It's fine we can just go into the other room real quick and take the jutsu test, then you…"

"He was cut off by one of his students, "But Iruka-sensei! We want to see her perform a jutsu!"

An overall agreement could be heard throughout the room.

"No! The regular Genin exams do not require you to do the jutsu in front of others; it's not fair to expect her to…"

He was cut off again by the same child, "But Iruka-sensei!"

"I don't mind." She cut in quietly. She walks closer to his desk, "Maybe they could learn something" She says, smiling slightly.

"Are you sure?" He asks apprehensively.

"Positive" She replies.

"Alright then, you need to create three doppelgangers."

"Um… Iruka-sensei. Is it alright if I made a couple extra?" she asked innocently.

"That would be fine" he said.

After quickly performing the hand seal and whispering the jutsu, a huge puff of smoke appears and around fifteen doppelgangers can be seen sanding around the expectant ninja. "Is that alright Iruka-sensei?" she asked.

"That's great!" he said approvingly while the cheers of a few students could be heard in the background. "Now all you have to do is finish this written portion" he says handing it to you, "And you'll be finished"

"Arigatou gozaimasu" she says heading to an empty seat in the corner. Not long later she finishes, confident that she passed. Handing it in to Iruka-sensei she asks if she can stay for the rest of class to watch.

"H…Hai, if you want to, I suppose." He responds, confused as to why a young lady would want to stay in class when she didn't have to.

Sitting back in the seat she had previously sat in, she sits as an unbiased observer. Never actually having attended a class before, it all seems rather exciting compared to the home-schooling she had received at her village. After class, the students all quickly exit, running for freedom but Lyra stays in her seat.

"I should be able to finish grading your test in ten minutes if you want to come back…"

"I'll just stay in here if it's alright with you, Iruka-sama."

"There's no need to call me –Sama, but its fine if you want to stay." He said smiling slightly as he starts reading over her answers.

Exactly nine minutes later, he finishes grading it. "Well, you passed." He says handing Lyra a headband. "You only got two wrong"

"Thanks Iruka-sensei."

"Now, the only problem is which team you're going to join. I think it would be best if you joined team seven. Meet up with them at 8:00 am tomorrow at the bridge. A word of advice, you don't really need to show up until about 10." He said smiling.

"Thanks Iruka-sensei" she responds smiling. "Sayonara!"

Once outside she sees a lone swing a short distance from the school and heads over to it. Once there she takes off her backpack and puts it on her lap. Opening it, she counts her money. _I only have enough for a couple of meals, I ate lunch today so I can hold out for tomorrow at breakfast and get money on our mission. I should be able to save up enough money for a place to stay quickly, we usually get pretty good money from missions. I can survive a couple days outdoors._

Swinging higher on the swing, she puts her backpack back on and swings higher and higher, enjoying the feeling of wind blowing through her hair.

"Hi, ano… can I go on when you're done please?" a little girl asks.

"Sure, you can go on now" Lyra responds jumping off of the swing and landing relatively far away.

"Wow!" the little girl says, "That was awesome!"

"Arigatou" Lyra responds giggling slightly.

After watching the little girl clumsily climb onto the swing and try and get herself swinging, Lyra walks over. "Do you want me to push you?"

"Hai! Please." She responds excitedly.

After a couple of pushes, Lyra asks, "So what's your name?"

"Miaka." She answers through her giggles.

"That's a very pretty name" Lyra responds pushing her higher.

"What's your name?" Miaka asks.

"Lyra."

"Your name is pretty too."

"Arigatou."

"Higher! Higher!" Miaka shouts through her giggles.

After a little while Miaka's mom comes and says it's time for her to go home.

"Goodbye Miaka-chan!"

"Bye Onee-san!"

Alone once again, Lyra heads off to search for a place to sleep for the night. Spotting a bench a little further up she decides that's as good of a place as any and heads for it. Placing her backpack on one end she lays down, using it as a pillow.

"Oyasuminasai" she whispers to the stars.

Denkou means lightning

Ojii-chan means grandpa

Arigatou gozaimasu means thank you in a formal manner.

Baka means idiot

Gomen nasai means I'm sorry

Hai means yes

Sayonara means goodbye

Ano means um…

Onee-san means Big sister

Oyasuminasai means goodnight


	2. Why do I always attract the weirdos?

Yuuki Lyra woke up after only a few hours of sleep. It was about 5:00 am, she approximates according to the sun. Stretching lazily, she takes out her drawing pad and gets to work. She surveys the area and reaches the conclusion that the Hokage stone faces are the highest point in the area. Jumping up, she looks at the horizon and starts drawing. After about three hours, she heads down to where the meeting is going to be held. She jumps up on the bridge and sits there, staring at the water below. After a little while, a person with dark hair and a blue shirt comes up behind her. She stares at his reflection in the water.

"Hey!" she says to him cheerily, turning around to face him.

"Hn." he says, walking past and leaning against the tree beside the bridge.

"Good morning." she says to him, before going back to staring at the water.

A couple minutes later, Sakura comes up and completely ignores Lyra and goes and sits next to Sasuke. Its around 9:30 when Naruto shows up. "Lyra-chan!" he shouts.

"Good morning Naruto-kun" she smiles cheerily.

"We're going to have a better mission today I bet." he said excitedly.

"Better? What do you mean Naruto-kun?" she asks, innocently tilting her head to one side in confusion.

"Well, we usually have lame missions but today we'll get a good one, I can feel it!" he cheers loudly.

Kakashi eventually shows up and tells them about their mission. They have to find a missing cat. Not quite the exciting mission Naruto was hoping for. The mission doesn't take too long to complete and the four genin's and their sensei end up in front of the Hokage.

The hokage starts talking about the choices of missions, "Well there's babysitting or shopping".

"We should get a real mission, something challenging and exciting not this baby stuff." Naruto complains.

"How dare you! Your just a brand new Genin with no experience like everyone else. You start with simple missions to develop your skills and prove yourself!" Iruka yells, defending the Hokage.

"Are you serious? Babysitting is not a mission its just a stupid.. Ahh!!" Naruto says, getting cut off by Kakashi.

Kakashi punches Naruto in the head and causes him to fall over. "Will you put a lid on it?"

"Naruto it seems you do not understand the tasks you've been given. Listen, many different kinds of requests come in to our village everyday, from babysitting to assassinations. These requests are carefully recorded, analyzed, then ranked A, B,C, or D depending on their difficulty. We ninja are also ranked by ability. Hokage at the top, Jounin, Chunin, and Genin at the bottom. At the highest level we select the missions and assign them to ninja who have the appropriate skill and experience. And if the mission is successful we receive a fee that supports our village and our work. Since you are untried Genin you are given D level assignments, of course." The Hokage explains.

"So I had this Tonkatsu ramen yesterday, and I'm thinking Miso ramen today." Naruto says to his team, clearly ignoring the Hokage's speech.

"Mm, I could really go for some ramen right about now." Lyra adds.

"Silence." the Hokage says.

"Oh,sorry." Kakashi says, scratching the back of his head embarrassed.

"Ah! You always lecture me like your my grandfather or something! But I'm not the little brat who used to play pranks all the time, I'm a ninja now, and I want a ninja mission." Naruto complains.

Iruka and the Hokage both chuckle at the statement. "Naruto wants us to know that he's not a brat, he's a former brat and he wants a ninja mission. So be it, since  
you are so determined I'll give you a C rank mission." the Hokage states.

"Awesome!" Lyra cheers, excitedly.

"You'll be bodyguards on a journey." The Hokage continues, sending a glance in her direction.

"Really? Yes! Are we guarding a princess or some big wig counsellor?" Naruto asks excitedly.

"Don't be so impatient I will bring him in now. Send in our visitor." the Hokage demands, causing everyone to turn around.

"What the? A bunch of little snot-nosed kids." the man asks, drinking sake. "You, the little one with the idiotic look on your face, you really expect me to believe you're a ninja?"

"Ha ha ha ha who's the little one with the idiotic look on his face?" Naruto questions, quickly realizing the man is talking about him. "I'll demolish you!"

"You can't demolish the client Naruto, it doesn't work that way." Kakashi states, holding Naruto back.

"I am Tazuna, a master bridge builder and I must return to my country. I'm building a bridge there that will change our world and I expect you to get me there safely even if it means giving up your life."

After his little monologue everyone splits up to get their supplies for the trip. Lyra just goes for a walk around the village. On her way back to the gate, she runs into a familiar ninja in a green jumpsuit.. "Gomen Lee-kun," she mutters embarrassed.

"No, it's my fault Lyra-chan for I was not watching where I was going. I'm late for being early to training." He announced rather loudly.

"You're late for being early?" she asked, slightly confused.

"Hai, I usually get there an hour early but today I let fifteen minutes late! If I don't get there before Neji-san I must walk around the village one hundred times on my hands." he announces valiantly.

"Well, I don't want to make you late then." Lyra says, backing away slowly.

"Where are you headed?" Lee asks, right as Lyra turns around.

"I'm going on a mission to the Village hidden in the mist."

"Your leaving already?" Lee asks, sounding sad.

"I don't think it will be too long of a mission though." Lyra says, walking over to Lee and patting him on the shoulder. "I need to train too. This mission will hopefully make me stronger." she adds helpfully.

"Right! We should make a deal. We will both get stronger before we meet again." Lee says, holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Sounds good to me!" Lyra says, smiling and shaking his hand firmly.

"Until next time Lyra-chan!" Lee says, blowing her a kiss.

"We should have a practice battle when I get back!" Lyra shouts back excitedly. "Bye Lee-kun. I'll miss you!" she adds before walking off towards the front gate.

"Yeah!" Naruto shouts, upon setting foot out of the village gate.

"What are you so excited about?" Sakura asks snottily.

"This is the first time I ever left the village. I'm officially a traveller now, believe it!" Naruto says excitedly. Lyra can't help but giggle at the excited look on his face. _It really isn't that great of a world out there_, Lyra can't help thinking, but she doesn't want to ruin Naruto's excitement so she cheers along with him.

"I'm supposed to entrust my life to this little runt? He's a joke." Tazuna comments.

"He's with me and I'm a jounin so you have nothing to worry about." Kakashi cuts in cooly.

"Hey never insult a ninja, its a big mistake and I'm one of the greatest ninjas ever! I'm going to be the Hokage one day and you'll look up to me. My name is Naruto  
Uzumaki, remember it!" Naruto exclaims. Lyra can't help but smile at his enthusiasm. _Good for you Naruto! _

"Hokage are powerful and wise, you are puny and brainless. The day you become the Hokage I'll sprout wings and fly." Tazuna says, with his lips still connected to his sake bottle.

"I didn't know we were guarding a bird." Lyra said, trying to stick up for Naruto.

Naruto was obviously surprised that she stood up for him and gave her a quick smile as thanks, but he still got offended. "Shut up! I'm willing to do anything to become Hokage! I'll become the top ninja and then you'll have to admit I'm the best!" he shouted, making Lyra smile.

"You can become Hokage ten times over and to me you'll be no one. A loser." Tazuna replies cruelly.

"Hey!" Lyra shouts, standing in front of Naruto and pointing at Tazuna. "What do you know about Naruto? I'm sure he'd be a brilliant Hokage!"

Naruto tries to charge Tazuna but it doesn't work because Kakashi is holding him back.

"Say Mr. Tazuna, your country is the land of waves right?" Sakura asks. Then she asks Kakashi whether or not there are any ninja in that country; Kakashi explains that there aren't.

Kakashi accuses the Genin of doubting the Hokage's power after he explains the importance of his position. Naruto and Sakura looked very nervous but Sasuke and Lyra stay calm.

After walking for a while longer Lyra notices something odd. Why is there a puddle here when it hasn't rained in a while? Probably just a fluke, she assumes.  
Suddenly a chain comes out of seemingly nowhere and wraps around Kakashi-sensei! Turning around, she notices two tall guys in dark cloaks ready to attack. Both jump behind Naruto and she immediately rushes over to his aid. Sasuke jumps in front of him as well, and side-by-side, they deflect the attacks. Both of the chains get stuck to a tree and Sasuke throws a kunai to keep them in place. Showing off, Sasuke jumps on their claws which are attached to their arms like gauntlets and kicks them in their faces, tearing their weapons. Once free, they split up. One goes for Tazuna and the other goes for Naruto. Sasuke immediately jumps in front of Sakura to protect her and Tazuna so Lyra jumps in front of Naruto. The man swipes at Naruto and she blocks a couple but Naruto gets sliced on the hand when the man jumps around her. Kakashi jumps in and grabs both of them in a headlock.

"Hi." Kakashi-sensei says, holding down both of the men. The Genin all realize he must've used the replacement jutsu.

"Naruto, sorry I didn't help you right away. I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that." Kakashi says.

"Sorry." Lyra whispers to Naruto, _I couldn't even protect him._

"Good job Sasuke and Lyra, very smooth. You too Sakura." Kakashi says proudly.

"Hey, your not hurt are you? Scardey cat." Sasuke teases.

"Naruto! Stay still, these ninja had poison in their claws, you have to stop moving around other wise it will spread." Kakashi says simply. "Buy the way Mr. Tazuna, we need to talk. Their Chunin from the village in the mist. A puddle on a clear day, when it hadn't rained in weeks? I had to know who their target was and what their after which is why I didn't fight. I needed to know if they were after us or you. You asked for standard protection not for help against enemy ninja. If we knew it would be so dangerous we would've ranked it a B mission and would have staffed differently You obviously have your reasons, but it was not right to lie to us. We are now beyond our mission criteria."

Sakura comments on the fact that it will be too difficult for us and that we should just go home. She also says that we should tend to Naruto's wound

"Why am I so different? I worked so hard to get here, pushing myself till it hurt. Training alone for hours, anything to get stronger, to reach my dream. I will never back down again, and let someone else save I will never run away and I will not lose to Sasuke." Naruto says adamantly, stabbing himself with the kunai to take the poison out of his bloodstream. "Upon this wound I make this pledge, believe it! Bridge builder, I'll complete this mission and protect you with this kunai knife. A real ninja never gives up and neither will I. Don't you guys worry about me I'll be fine. Now lets go!" Naruto monologues.

"Naruto, that was really cool how you took the poison out but if you lose anymore blood your going to die." Kakashi states, not sounding very worried.  
Naruto immediately starts freaking out.

"Good idea to stop the bleeding now, seriously." Kakashi says, popping up behind Naruto and further freaking him out.

Kakashi grabs Naruto's hand to heal him and is surprised how it's already starting to heal.

"You have a really serious look on your face. Your scaring me! Am I going to be ok?" Naruto asks, worriedly.

"Yeah you should be fine." Kakashi says reassuringly.

"I'm sorry Naruto." Lyra say depressed, letting her head hang in shame. "I failed."

"What are you talking about? I'm the one who failed! I din't do anything, at least you fought! I was a coward." Naruto replies.

"Your just not used to fighting, Naruto-kun. I'm sure you'll do fine the next time." she says to try and cheer him up, but he just sighs in reply.

"Nice job Sakura and Sasuke." Lyra says, walking over to them.

"You too." Sasuke mumbles, catching her off guard.

"Aw, thanks Sasuke! See, I'm sure we'll be the best of friends." she responds goofily. He just shakes his head but she's pretty sure she saw the hint of a smirk on his lips as he turns away.

Lyra's POV

We eventually reach a pier where we get on a boat to go to the land of waves. The fog is thick, like condensation on glass. Naruto shouts making all of us flinch and the guy rowing the boat to tell him to be quiet. Kakashi asks Mr. Tazuna why he has ninja after him, threatening that he will leave if Tazuna didn't tell him. Tazuna tells Kakashi that the man after him is Gatou and Kakashi gasps once he hears the name. Gatou is a wealthy business man, and a very powerful tycoon. He sells drugs using gangs and ninja to make money illegally. Tazuna tries to guilt us into continuing to help him by telling us a sob story about his daughter and his grandson. Kakashi tells him that we will continue to help him. Once we get dropped off, we start heading for his house.

Naruto hears a noise and throws a kunai into a bush. He starts searching around for a hidden ninja. He threw the kunai very close to a rabbit and starts apologizing profusely to it, snuggling him into his chest_. How cute._

"Look out!" Kakashi shouts, making us all duck to the ground.

"Well, well if it isn't Zabuza Momochi? Rogue ninja from the village hidden in the mist." Kakashi states. Naruto charges but Kakashi holds him back.

Kakashi warns us of the danger of fighting him. Zabuza tells us to hand over the old man but Kakashi tells us to work as a team to protect Tazuna. Zabuza attacks Kakashi, doing a water attack called the hidden mist jutsu making it impossible to find him. Kakashi warns us that Zabuza is the master of the silent killing technique and tells us to keep on guard.

We form a sort of shield around Tazuna, one on each side of him. All of a sudden I hear Zabuza, "There are eight vulnerable targets."

"What?!" Sakura asks, her voice quivering.

"So many choices, what vital, vulnerable place should I choose?"Zabuza chuckles menacingly. "Kidney, heart, throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, jugular vein, the subclavian artery." He adds creepily.

"Where is he?" Naruto asks.

"He's going to come after me first." Kakashi says, "But you have to remain on your toes."

All of a sudden I can feel Sasuke shaking. I each out my hand to the left and grab his hand in mine. Kakashi tells him to calm down so I drop his hand, after giving it a light squeeze. "I would never let my comrades die." Kakashi says.

"I wouldn't bet on that" Zabuza mumbles when, all of a sudden with a flurry of movement, he breaks through our defenses and whispers "Game over" right behind me.

Kakashi jumps in and stabs Zabuza, who in a weird turn of events is actually a water doppelganger. Zabuza immediately comes behind Kakashi and swipes at him with his sword but Kakashi isn't even remotely hurt because he was a water clone too! Kakashi jumped behind Zabuza and taunts "Game Over."

"Heh, you think it's over? you just don't get it. It will take more to defeat me than mimicking me like an ape... a lot more. You duplicated my water doppelganger technique that quickly which is quite impressive,but it's too bad for you I am not that easy to fool!" Zabuza shouts, coming up behind Kakashi and placing a kunai against his neck threateningly. Kakashi slashes the water clone in front of him, realizing his mistake.

Zabuza appears to have the upper hand now but what will happen next time on Naruto?


	3. Haku?

Zabuza stands with his blade against Kakashi's neck. "I guess you knew this was how it was going to end, huh Kakashi?" He sneers. Out of no where two figures simultaneously attack Zabuza, effectively saving Kakashi. They attack Zabuza with a blind fury.

"What's going on?" I ask Naruto to my right. He just stares, mouth a gape at the scene. After a couple seconds of loud metal clanks filling the air, Zabuza shoves both of the figures down onto the ground with one shove. I jump in front of them and attack Zabuza myself.

"Back off Lyra!" Kakashi yells at me. One more useless slash at Zabuza and I jump back by the two interlopers.

"You guys all right?" I ask, helping the first off the ground. I walk over to the second to find him wiping blood from the side of his mouth. I reach out and pull him up too. Neither one says anything as we all turn to see Kakashi and Zabuza fighting again.

"Who's that?" the taller of the two strangers ask.

"Who's asking?" I ask smartly, smirking at him.

"He's Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto explains excitedly before I got my answer.

"Naruto." I groan, annoyed.

"Heh, sorry." He says, scratching the back of his head.

The fight has moved to the lake as they stand on the water. Kakashi seems to be saying and doing everything at the exact same time as Zabuza, psyching his opponent out. Kakashi gets the final attack in, sending Zabuza flying back to land.

"I guess you really can tell the future." Zabuza gasps out, severely injured and leaning against a tree.

"This is your last battle Zabuza!" Kakashi announces dramatically, readying himself for the final blow. Whoosh! A needle embeds itself into Zabuza's neck. A boy is standing on a tree branch high above our heads.

"Who are you?" Naruto asks angrily. The boy jumps down near Zabuza's body.

"Thanks for weakening him for me. I've been tracking this man for a long time now." The boy says, picking up Zabuza's body and doing a transport jutsu away from us.

"Ah! How can he come and just kill him like that?" Naruto yells. Kakashi turns to talk to our two visitors when he suddenly collapses.

"Aw man, I'm not carrying him." I call, holding my hands up and backing away. Sasuke ends up carrying him. The two strangers come with us without putting up a fight and we quickly reach Tazuna's house. Once we get Kakashi settled in, we sit around the table and have a little chat.

"So who are you guys exactly?" I ask the two strangers looking at the shorter one first. He has spiky, light brown hair and bluish-green eyes. He's wearing a black leather vest and pants. He also has fingerless gloves and his headband is wrapped three times around his elbow. His left arm has a black flame reaching from under his village headband-turned-armband, to his shoulder. The main weapon he has is a thin, sword with a shiny black sheath.

"My name is Suikoden and I'm hungry, do you have anything to eat?" After a weird look from me he responds, "Just kidding."

"What about you?" I ask, nodding towards the other one. He appears to be an inch or so taller than the other. He has similarly colored spiky hair, slightly more dramatic because of the added three inches to his hair length. He has striking blue eyes and is wearing a green long-sleeved shirt and black pants with a long white, short-sleeved jacket over it going down to his knees.

"My name is Yasu, nice to meet you." He says, bowing slightly.

"Nice to meet you too." I respond cheerily, bowing back politely. "Do you want a lollipop?" I ask, grabbing a random one out of my pocket.

"I just said I was hungry like two seconds ago." Suikoden complains.

"You weren't polite like him," I stick my tongue out at him and throw the lollipop at his head. He ends up catching it in his mouth. "You should probably take the wrapper off." I say, smiling.

Tazuna comes back with his daughter named Tsunami and she starts making dinner. We continue to chat, well all of us except Sasuke, as Tsunami makes food. After a couple minutes of useless chatter, I ask why they helped us with Zabuza. Yasu explains that he and his brother were on their way to the leaf village when he ran into us. Once he realized we were from the Leaf Village, they jumped in to help out.

"Aw thanks!" I say, hugging both of them at the same time. Sakura glares at me angrily. She had been staring at Suikoden the whole time. I thought she was in love with Sasuke! We go up to see how Kakashi is doing and find him awake. He explains to us that Zabuza is not dead at all, the "tracker ninja" who supposedly finished the job actually saved him.

"Great." I say sarcastically, "he's still alive."

"Well, we're off." Suikoden says, turning and walking away.

"Wait, your not going to help?" I ask, stopping him from leaving.

"It's none of our business, we are on our way to the Leaf village now. Bye bye" he says. His brother turns and leaves with him.

"Odd bunch." I say matter-of-factly. Kakashi and the rest of us head down to dinner and decide to start training the next day for the impending battle with Zabuza.  
After a good nights rest, we head out to the forest and Kakashi tells us to climb trees. He explains that we have to climb the trees by sending the right amount of chakra to our feet and walking up it. Sakura and I both make it on our first tries and it is an exhilarating experience. I climb to one of the top branches and hang upside down.

"Well apparently the girls on this team have the best chakra control." Kakashi says, going on to mock Naruto and Sasuke for their failed attempts.

Sakura sticks up for Sasuke so I jump in and say "That's not fair, I'm sure Naruto just needs some practice." I decide to go train on my own while Sakura heads back to the house with Kakashi. I pick a tree and practice my punches and kicks on it. After I while I get bored and decide to try out my new jutsu. I get into my stance, relatively low to the ground, and shout "Flower barrage jutsu!" A large gust of wind circles me, carrying razor sharp flower petals with it. I move them by moving my hands in whichever direction I want them to go. Crunch! I quickly end my jutsu and turn around. "Hi." I bow slightly.

"Hello." the girl says. She seems to be collecting some kind of plant so I ask her what kind and proceed to help her find some. We talk for a little while before she comments on my jutsu. "Pretty impressive" she calls it, smiling slightly. After I thank her she asks an oddly personal question, "Why do you fight?" I ask her what she means and she says "You know, do you fight for money, revenge, family, friendship, love, what is your reason to fight?"

After about a minutes pause I answer "I guess I fight for my friends, my village and everyone who is important to me so basically, friendship and love." She just smiles and we continue to pick up the plants. It starts getting dark and I say that I have to go but not before telling her that "your one of my important people so I would fight for you." and giving her the peace sign.

Right as I'm leaving she says, "By the way, I'm a guy." and calmly walks away.

"What?!" I can't help but chase after him. "Seriously?" I reach out and rub his chest. "You are!!" He side steps me with a smile on his face.

I slowly walk back to the house. I still can't believe that was a guy. She, I mean he, was so pretty. Maybe it was a girl with a really flat chest... and abs? No, that had to be a guy! When I got to the house, Kakashi, Sakura, Tazuna, and Inari were sitting around the table. I sat down next to Inari and listened to Kakashi and Tazuna chat. Well I tried to listen, my mind ended up drifting back to the boy who I was picking plants with. After about five minutes Naruto and Sasuke came in holding each other up and looking absolutely exhausted.

"Are you guys all right?" I asked, jumping up and running over to them. I wrap my arm around Naruto's shoulder and sit him down next to me.

"We made it all the way to the top." Naruto says excitedly. I just smile back in return and Tazuna's daughter starts serving us some food. After a while Inari gets mad at Naruto for seemingly no reason at all.

"Wait Inari come back!" I shout, following him to his room. He tells me about his family and how much he misses his father. "Sorry, little man." I whisper as I hum him a song. He eventually falls asleep and I walk outside.

A short while later, when Kakashi was healed, we head back to the bridge to protect Tazuna. Sakura, Sasuke, and I go to the bridge. Not long after our arrival two familiar faces pop up. Its Zabuza and the guy who saved him! After Kakashi and Zabuza chat, Kakashi sends Sasuke to battle the boy with Zabuza, known as Haku.  
Kakashi fights Zabuza while Haku starts up some kind of unknown jutsu, trapping Sasuke inside. Sakura and I are stuck watching over Tazuna. "I have to go help him." I whisper to Sakura, glancing worriedly over at the area Sasuke and Haku are in. Now there is a large ice crystal building thing surrounding the battle. Naruto charges in as Sakura complains that she should be the one to help her lover.

Naruto valiantly shows up and jumps immediately into the ice cavern. "I have to help them, sorry Sakura and Tazuna." I whisper to the bridge builder and my teammate. I jump after them but stay on the outside. I throw various weapons and try simply hitting the icy walls, before realizing its not helping. After hearing a cry from the inside, I make up my mind, and jump in. "This is probably a bad idea." I mumble before jumping in.

The scene in front of me is startling. Sasuke and Naruto are both covered in needles. They are talking about some kind of plan to take down Haku. Now that I'm inside I realize what the jutsu is. Its some kind of hall of mirrors. A Haku look-a-like is in every mirror. All of a sudden, I notice the real Haku jump out of his mirror, and not even a second later, a barrage of needles are flying at Naruto. Sasuke starts heading in front of Naruto, but he is already injured. I jump in front of both of them. The needles pierce my skin and I can't help but cry out.

Falling to the ground, I push my hands out to stabilize myself but I quickly fall face first anyway. Moments later, I hear Sasuke shout out in pain and then Naruto screams Sasuke's name and a weird chakra fills the air. I lift up my head in time to see Naruto surrounded in an evil-feeling chakra. He goes right up to Haku and punches him in the face. They both fly out of the area of the now cancelled jutsu.

I see Haku's face and I can't help but think it seems familiar. Moments later I realize who it was, the boy from the forest! I force myself onto shaky feet and quickly run out to stop Naruto from killing him. When I get outside, Haku is begging Naruto to kill him. Naruto is trying to talk him out of it. All of a sudden, Haku jumps towards Zabuza's position. I quickly figure out what Haku is trying to do so I jump after him. I make it just in time. Kakashi used his jutsu against me, his hand covered in a powerful chakra energy and his hand shoved deep in my shoulder.

"I told you were a friend now." I whisper. Kakashi pulls his hand out carefully causing me to wince and he catches me as I fall.

I wake up a week later in the Kenosha hospital. I groggily sit up, my hand immediately going to clutch my injured shoulder. "What... Where am I?"

The room is empty except for me. I attempt to stand up, but end up sprawled on the floor. I stumble back to my feet and head out the door. I bump, unceremoniously into a green figure. "Lee-kun?" I ask, glancing up into his worried. face. "Lee-kun!" I shout, wrapping my hands around his waist in an impromptu hug. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder, I smile up at him. He must've noticed I was in pain, as he scooped me up and carried me back to bed. "I wanted to go outside." I said sadly as he tucks me back in bed.

"Your seriously injured." he said, glancing worriedly at my shoulder.

"This is nothing" I said happily My demeanor quickly changing as I remembered how I got this injury. "What happened to Haku and my team?" I ask.

"Maybe I'm not the best one to ask." He said, avoiding the question.

"Please Lee, I have to know. Are they all right?"

"Well, your team is fine." Lee said."I don't really know about the others."

"Oh." I said dejectedly. we end up talking for almost an hour before he goes back to training. Not long later I try and get up again but the doctor comes to visit.

I ask to leave but she quickly admonishes me. "Do you realize how severe your wound was? It took me hours to completely fix the muscles you destroyed. The bone in your arm shattered. Do you realize how hard it was to fix that? Sit your butt down and rest already."

I get sentenced to a week of bed rest before being allowed to leave the hospital. Kakashi comes to visit a day later. I immediately ask about what happened after I passed out. The answer was not something I wanted to hear.

What happened to Zabuza and Haku after Lyra passed out? Find out next time on Naruto!


End file.
